- Somalia: Regime troops, opposition clash in Baidoa
Source: US News & World Report
“Somalia’s federal troops and armed opposition groups clashed in heavy fighting in Baidoa city centre on Monday, a local resident and an army officer told Reuters. The administrative capital of South West state, Baidoa is home to international peacekeepers and humanitarian agencies. It is one of Somalia’s largest cities with a population of over a million people. Fresh fighting in the city could compound a dire humanitarian crisis in the area. Baidoa hosts hundreds of thousands of displaced people and one in four children at displacement sites there are severely malnourished, according to a July survey by Medecins Sans Frontieres.” (08/17/26)
- FBI “back-burnered” Epstein tip from Hugh Hefner
Source: AOL
“The FBI should not have ‘back-burnered’ a 2005 tip from Playboy founder Hugh Hefner that Jeffrey Epstein had trafficked and sexually abused Playmate Audra Christiansen, a former federal agent says. Christiansen says Hefner, at her urging, made multiple reports to the FBI more than two decades ago but the agency did not immediately follow up. Court documents in a lawsuit filed on behalf of dozens of Epstein survivors say the FBI eventually contacted Christiansen — but not until 2020 after Epstein’s jailhouse death.” (08/16/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/no-excuse-fbi-ignoring-hef-032945000.html
- India: At least seven killed in temple stampede
Source: United Press International
“At least seven Hindu devotees were killed Monday morning in a crowd crush at a Shiva temple in eastern India, where tens of thousands had gathered to take part in a religious observance, according to reports. The incident occurred near Ashok Dham, a famous temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in Lakhisarai during the holy month of Shravan, when Mondays are considered particularly auspicious for worship. Preliminary information indicates that reports that a live wire from a fallen electricity pole electrocuted people queuing for Ashok Dham prompted people to panic and run for safety, causing a barricade to collapse and people to pile on top of one another, The New Indian Express reported.” (08/17/26)
- Trump says US to reduce military drills with South Korea after it stayed out of Iran war
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“President Donald Trump has said the US will ‘substantially reduce’ joint military exercises with South Korea, citing his ‘very good relationship’ with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. He also noted on Truth Social that South Korea had recently declined to join the US in the ‘denuclearisation’ of Iran. ‘These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile,’ Trump posted. Seoul said it was reviewing Trump’s comments, adding it hoped a favourable relationship between Washington and Pyongyang could lead to meaningful talks. Pyongyang has not yet commented.” (08/17/26)
- DNC boots New Hampshire further down the presidential primary calendar
Source: WCVB 5 News
“100 years of presidential political history may now be just that – history. On Saturday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) made its primary calendar official, as it voted to put South Carolina first in its presidential nominating calendar. The move comes amidst a renewed drama between the DNC and the state of New Hampshire, which has long served as the ‘First in the Nation’ primary state. The party voted in line with a prior vote by the party’s Rules & Bylaws Committee to establish South Carolina first, Nevada second and New Hampshire third. … State law in New Hampshire requires it to hold its primary before any other similar primary contest.” (08/16/26)
- Israel: Ben-Gvir calls for “killing 30-40 people in Gaza every night”
Source: WION [India]
“Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has made another shocking statement calling for genocide of Palestinians. In a podcast, he said that Israeli forces should ‘kill 30 or 40 people in Gaza every night’ and go beyond ‘those who pose a danger at that particular moment.’ He advocated for building Jewish settlements throughout the entirety of the Gaza Strip and called for the permanent, engineered mass emigration of the Palestinian population out of Gaza to other countries, while stating that ‘terrorists’ should not be allowed to emigrate but rather be killed ‘one by one.’ … The remarks are the latest in a long record of extreme statements from Ben-Gvir, who sits in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government and controls Israel’s police and prison services.” (08/17/26)
- Closing Federal Prisons: A Winning Hand
Source: RealClearPolitics
by Marc A Levin & Khalil A Cumberbatch“For decades, the War on Drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, and other dynamics kept our nation’s federal prisons packed to the rafters, with many facilities operating well beyond their design capacity. But now the Trump administration is poised to do what once seemed unthinkable: Close prisons. This welcome occasion is not a matter of luck. It reflects falling crime, fewer people sentenced for drug offenses. and prisoners earning time off their sentences by completing programs and staying out of trouble. It all adds up to a shrinking inmate population, prompting the Bureau of Prisons to announce plans to shutter six of its lockups. This will spare taxpayers the cost of running half-empty facilities and free up savings to reinvest in measures that reduce reoffending.” (08/16/26)
- The Feral Spectacle of the Radical Blockbuster Movie
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“Back in nineteen-ninety-something, escaping reality was still a collective experience. You and your brother and a dozen strangers that were just as bored as you getting together over dangerously over-salted butter popcorn to watch Quentin Tarantino kill just enough people to squeak by with an R rating. It’s all gone now. It’s all over. Everything is digital. Everything has been separated from the fragile fingertips of another actual sentient human being by fifty-five layers of synthetic software. Hollywood is dead and Marvel buried it in an empty computer box. Everything has been reduced to a formula, from the tightly focus-group tested plot of another poorly regurgitated superhero saga of good versus evil to the computer generated, greenscreen special effects of an AI animated cartoon with the faces of A-list celebrities pasted to the action.” (08/16/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-feral-spectacle-of-radical.html
- The 50% Canadian Tariff Myth: Why Washington Is Taxing Americans, Not Canada
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“More tariff fun with our neighbors to the north coming up this week. Trump’s dumb Canadian tariffs drop this coming Wednesday, imposing a punitive 50% tax on Canadian imports to the United States. This includes steel, aluminum, lumber, cement, and various consumer goods. Emergency talks are underway, and hopefully, before you read this, the situation will have been resolved, but not likely. And the gaslighting of the American people continues under Trump, trying to make it sound like Americans are not paying extra for goods caught in the tariff net, but the bottom line is. The Trump administration attempts to sell tariffs as some kind of bizarre patriotic weapon to punish foreign governments for taking advantage of us financially, but the only ones penalized are American businesses and consumers.” (08/16/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/the-50-canadian-tariff-myth-why-washington
- Trump’s Assault on Judicial Review Undermines a Crucial Safeguard Against Tyranny
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum“It should be obvious by now that Trump is not thankful for an independent judiciary, which he views as an illegitimate obstacle to his policy agenda and personal whims. That much is clear from his over-the-top denunciations of recalcitrant judges and justices, whom he habitually accuses of political bias or cowardice, sometimes recommending their impeachment. It is also clear from the arguments that Justice Department lawyers have made in court, especially during Trump’s second term.” (08/16/26)
- Zano: Privacy Infrastructure for the Counter-Economy
Source: Agorist Nexus
by Vini B“In a world where every bank transfer, card swipe, and digital payment leaves a permanent trail for the state to follow, the need for tools that restore private exchange has never been greater. Governments expand financial surveillance under the banners of ‘anti-money laundering’ and ‘tax compliance,’ while inflation and capital controls punish ordinary people simply for trying to preserve their wealth or trade freely. Agorists have long understood that the most effective path to liberty is not petitioning rulers but building parallel systems that operate outside their reach. Zano is one of those systems. It is not merely another privacy coin. It is an open-source Layer-1 blockchain designed from the ground up so that every transaction, every asset, and even the type of asset being transferred remains hidden by default.” (08/16/26)
https://www.agoristnexus.com/zano-privacy-infrastructure-for-the-counter-economy/
- Tax Supporters Falsely Define “Cost” and “Lose”
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“Normally when we speak of ‘losing’ something or ‘costing’ something, it’s in terms of already having that thing. You lose $50 on a bet, or a steak dinner costs you $50. Using the definition preferred by supporters of ever-increasing government revenue, though, I ‘lost’ thousands of dollars yesterday when I walked past a bank instead of walking in, waving a gun at the tellers, and taking all the cash from their drawers. It ‘cost’ me thousands of dollars. And committing to not robbing every bank I happen to walk past in the future ‘costs’ me too. I’m ‘losing’ all that money! Oh, the humanity! … even if one supports taxation for the purpose of funding government operations, it’s beyond dishonest to claim that cutting, or just not raising, taxes is a ‘cost’ or a ‘loss’ to government.” (08/15/26)
- The Right To Be Left Alone
Source: Antiwar.com
by Andrew P Napolitano“The rapid spread of public surveillance cameras represents something far more consequential than a new piece of police technology. It represents a fundamental change in the relationship between the individual and the state. These cameras allow government agents to record, identify, catalog and retroactively track the movements of people who have committed no crime, are suspected of no wrongdoing and have done nothing to invite government scrutiny. That’s not public safety. It’s an assault upon individual privacy. Privacy is not a privilege granted by government. It is an aspect of personal liberty that government exists to protect. It is a natural human right protected from the government in the Bill of Rights. The fact that a person leaves his home and travels upon a public road does not mean that he has surrendered that right.” (08/14/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/andrew-p-napolitano/2026/08/13/the-right-to-be-left-alone-2/
- The Kyle Anzalone Show, 08/16/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Loomer Sits Down With Ukraine Neo-Nazi.” (08/16/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-loomer-sits-down-with-ukraine-neo-nazi/
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 08/16/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“A Democratic Strategist on the Future of the Democratic Party w/ Maya Rupert.” (08/16/26)
- Joe Kent on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Joe Kent on the Risk That US and Israeli Aggression Will Lead to Stateside Terrorism.” (08/16/26)
- Unattended Baggage, episode 352
Source: Unattended Baggage
“US Navy: It’s what’s for dinner!” (08/15/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-352-us-navy-its-whats-for